Why Does This Matter?
Once again this is Deer, and I wanted to talk about the team’s design philosophy on maintaining a competitively balanced, yet fun game. The game must be fair at the highest level of play, but at the same time it must not sacrifice player expression or gameplay variety to reach that end-goal. In addition, a game can actually become “too fair” where outcomes become too predictable. Although this idea may seem intuitively wrong at first, one can soon realize that most competitive games on the market have some element of luck to them. For example, Valorant and Counter-Strike have slight inaccuracy with their firearms even when being completely still. Games like League of Legends or DOTA 2 also have random elements with basic systems like slight variability when calculating damage. That being said, it’s become clear to us that to make a game fair, yet fun, causes you to tread across a very fine line. Lean too far in either direction, and you’ll fall to your doom.
Everyone Bleeds in the Arena
Design is always an evolving and ongoing process for us, but so far we’ve come to the idea that arena shooters/fighters help facilitate this desire for both fairness and fun. The neutral start allows for an even playing field, but players can acquire “borrowed” power from fighting at key points in the arena and obtaining a pick-up weapon. This creates dynamic scenarios where power balances can shift at a moment's notice upon acquiring new equipment, or by utilizing the terrain to your advantage. Some may argue that not having a loadout or hero system akin to modern games may hurt the player’s ability to express themselves. However, we’d argue that player expression in the arena becomes more emphasized as one’s playstyle is earned rather than given. We like to look fondly back at older games such as Halo 3/Quake III where players would become renowned for being able to acquire their preferred equipment at will (I for one remember always rushing for the Sniper Rifle in Halo 3). We feel that this makes equipping yourself to be a engaging gameplay interaction rather than a simple decision made on a screen. This also benefits both new and veteran players alike as new players are exposed to less mechanics initially while veteran players can seek mastery outside of the core gameplay systems.
Rock, Paper, Swords
Decision making is the crux of gameplay for any title regardless of what genre it may be. Without choice, video games would be like other forms of media where the player is experiencing a pre-scripted experience. The power to choose comes at a cost, however, where one choice can often become the most optimal solution. This removes any player agency and essentially reduces the game to that of traditional media. We’ve navigated around this potential problem by adopting a “Rock, Paper, Scissors” mindset, leading us to design gameplay mechanics to be situationally powerful rather than all encompassing. The bow and arrow excels at doing small amounts of damage from afar while applying pressure to disrupt your opponent’s movement. Melee combat provides high amounts of damage at close range and allows you to retain most of your mobility. The Dragon Lash sits somewhere in-between with a medium range, large burst damage, and incredible speed. These abilities create a gradient of options on which ability is the most optimal to use based on what they think their opponent is planning to do. However, the dodge and parry are slight exceptions to this system as they serve as defensive actions to bail the player out of a bad situation. We keep this balanced by making them limited resources with longer cooldowns compared to offensive abilities. This also creates another layer of decision making where a player may intentionally choose a non-optimal solution to bait out an enemy’s dodge or parry. We feel that this battle/dance of the minds is what makes Bushi's competitive gameplay fun to be engaged in.
The Controversy of Skilled-Based Matchmaking
A match can quickly become frustrating or boring if there is a huge skill disparity between players. However, players can also be upset by strict matchmaking as it may make it more difficult for them to experiment or relax as their rank continues to climb. We are hoping to appease both mindsets as we are focusing on developing systems that affect how you find a match. Ranked Modes are not only undergoing gameplay changes, but the matchmaking system behind it is receiving an overhaul to ensure that you are competing against equally skilled players in an environment that reduces, if not, eliminates unfair factors such as ping or “smurfing”. Casual Modes will also have some light form of matchmaking, but will have a way greater tolerance between skill levels. The goal is to ensure that there will at least be one other player in your match that you will be able to properly compete with. If players wish to avoid matchmaking altogether, you will be pleased to know that we are continuing to support our Custom Modes server browser. These servers will allow anyone to host their own matches with their settings of choice, and we will be expanding such options to allow for more player freedom. You can consider this portion of the game as the “Wild West” where anything goes.
Final Thoughts
After much thought, we truly believe that the Sandbox Arena genre needs representation in the modern age of gaming. It provides a sanctuary that is casual-friendly while staying fair and engaging in a competitive environment. Although our desire “to have our cake and eat it too” may lead to difficult design challenges, we feel we are steadily working our way towards our ideal vision of that dream. Our goal, as it has always been, is to provide something fun for every player, no matter who they are. This was one of our primary reasons for introducing a new PvE (Player vs. Environment) game mode in the first place. We believe Bushi has much to offer to a wide variety of players and we can’t wait for you all to play. See you in the arena, Deer.
